Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-12-21
AMUSING BLUNDERS.
A Charming Collection of ODD
Typographical Errors.
How the Intelligent Composition Some
times "InProvo-'' tho Manuscript En-
trusted o. His Curc-A Bible Verso
Revised by - Printer

Every newspaper Office has It's accumu-
lation Of odd typographical errors, which
often become classic in the office before
hey are crystalized i'm any published col
lection Of such blunders, remarks the
Boston Transcript Listener. Some OF the
funniest Of printers blunders, Of course,
never got into print at all, hut are fasten-
cd upon by the proof.rcadcr and spoiled,
a. Jokes, before the paper comes out.
Some times they are so funny that II
seems almost pity for the correcter 20
lay his vandal hand upon them; there
II n temptation 90 let the public have the
iul benefit OF them. There was some-
thing quito epic, for instance,
In that phrase that the proof.
ronder's eagle eve hit upon the
other day. "An eloquent lunch was served
last evcning:" ian elegant lunch" was
correct hut much moro commonplace.
The phrase, ''rhe floods In China have
ruined the iron crop" was rather mystify.
ing than funny, and the composition who
set up "irou" for 'rice" must have
worked very hard indeed. Occasionally
there arc monumental instances OF
stupidity i'm single sentence, as. for
Instance, whom. during the recent
presidential progress through the West,
a Boston proof.readsr was confront
ed. upon a Zip OF tslegraphic dispatches,
with this extraordinary sentence:
The stay az Indianapolis proved relief from
the monetary which Is inimitabie on thirty
hour cuutiouary journey.
After the proof-rcader had reduced
''mouctary" TO "monotony," and "inimt.
able" 20 "fnevitahlc," aud "cautionary"
Co ''continuous," he had made sen Sc out Of
the para graph, hut he had left IL much
less picturesque than II was before.
The proof. reader. indeed, is 50 much
accustomed 90 reading such expressions
as "Nrs. Logan sat bobbing at the head OF
the cofIin,p for "Nlrs. Logan sat sobbing,"
ste, and "sTeasers on n seating" for
'quavers ON violin" aud "a heavy shOe
fell In Berk shire County last night for "a
heavy shower" aud 'the devil OF ST
Francis" for "the dust OF st. Francis
and the "veterans of the Mulligan war"
Tor Mexican war, aud even such manifest
improvements upon the original as "the
spot was lit by the love Of home" for ''tht
nox was lit by the lux Of Luna" that he
finds them quite commonplace, and
censes 20 treasure them up in his MEM
ory. The blunders that get into the paper
are the only ones that really become mem
orable. Speaking OF the traditions OF blum
ders that remain I'm every office, there Is
one, for instance, that n writer for news.
paper not very far away will long remem-
Der. He had occasion TO use that poetic
phrase, ''the toilsome and patient oxen"
In n vacation letter from somewhere down
In Maine, and was astonished, when be
got his paper, 90 see il appear "the tail.
some and patient oxen" His readers
however, probably never suspected the
blunder, and thought he had, with delicate
humor, given them new and graphic
term. There Is no doubt about the ten
dency OF the OK to be very "tailsome" IL
midsummer. IL was suggestive OF the in
territorial blundsr OF certain other news
paper writer-"fign tempHs has arrived
II was in the same paper that an editoria
writer was once altonished 20 see that he
had been made 70 speak Of drove o.
hogs floating down the Connecticut
when he had attempted 10 write OF some
thing much more commonplace, to-wit, 9
drive OF logs This was the same edi
torial writer, tho Listener belisyes, who
In essaying n tribute 20 ''Dr. Holmes WORD
painting" complimented his "wood. paint
tng'' instead--an art in which, though the
AutOcrat may excel for all the ListeneE
knows, he has not. at least, obtained re-
nOwn.
There are other typographical errors
memorable about the Commonwealth,
some OF which, the Listener believes,
have not booD put ON record save In theil